In the framework of project activity 3.2 of the work package 3 Staff training and development of teaching resources, 29 teachers and staff members of the Faculty of Music, University of Arts in Belgrade (P1) were trained for the use of the distance learning platform. Due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak in Serbia, the three-day training was held online, on the eLearning platform for distance learning, from 14th to 18th of December 2020. The trainees were comprised of head of departments, teachers and members of non-teaching staff from various Faculty’s services. After the general part of the training, further advanced individual consultations or work in smaller groups on specific problems in music distance teaching and learning was offered, to be held by the end of December 2020. The training was led by the Head of the University of Belgrade Computer Centre prof. dr Slavko Gajin.
Topics covered by the training included an introduction to the eLearning portal, how to set up a teacher’s account, how to set and publish an online course, how to add various types of course activities (audio, video and other files, tests), how to enable students to take part in an online course, to upload their work, and many others. In addition, the teachers who previously used the distance learning platform were invited to share their experience and practice with their colleagues.
The Faculty of Music in Belgrade is currently offering the highest number of online courses of all four faculties constituting the University of Arts in Belgrade (P1). In the fall semester of academic year 2020/21, 31 online courses were active on the eLearning platform for distance learning, with more than 610 students participating, whereas the number of students per course varied from 1 to 120, depending on the type of the course.
The open-source Moodle based platform eLearning was developed by the University of Belgrade Computer Centre, and offered to the University of Arts in Belgrade for use in Spring 2020 as part of the project activity 2.6. Its content and possibilities were adapted to answer the specific needs of musicians – teachers and students of the Faculty of Music of the University of Arts in Belgrade (following the adaptation and putting to use similar distance learning platforms developed at other two national academic partner institutions – the University of Novi Sad and University of Kragujevac). Similar training was previously conducted in February 2020 at the Academy of Arts, University of Novi Sad with 40 teachers and members of staff attending.
